Fort Valley State Beats Benedict 33-10

FORT VALLY, Ga. (AP) — The Fort Valley State University Wildcats jumped out to a 23-0 first-half lead and cruised to a 33-10 victory over the Benedict College Tigers on Saturday in a SIAC football matchup. The 0-4 Tigers fell behind 10-0 within the opening minutes of the game and never could overcome the early deficit. Benedict dropped its opening SIAC game, while Fort Valley State improves to 3-1 overall and 2-0 in the SIAC. Benedict tried to open the game with a surprise on-side kick, and the trickery would have worked, but a penalty negated the play and the Tigers were forced to kick over. That was an omen of things to come for the Tigers. The Wildcats drove 30 yards on 10 plays, with All-Conference kicker Justin Rosenbaum effortlessly kicked a 47-yard field goal to open the scoring. On Benedict’s first play on offense, quarterback Chris Thomas fumbled the ball after being sacked. The Wildcats took over at the Benedict 18-yard line, and Fort Valley State quarterback Antonio Henton connected with Eric McCree for a 13-yard touchdown to make it 10-0 with 10:44 left in the first quarter. “There were too many mistakes, too many turnovers, too many big plays,” Woody said. “We can’t win football games if we don’t clean this up. The kids are still fighting, they’re not giving up. But we’ve got to learn how to not turn over the football.” Thomas, the starting quarterback, was injured on the next series. Woody said Thomas injured a toe and his situation is day-to-day. Teddy Joseph came in and fumbled the ball on his second play. The Wildcats capitalized on the turnover and drove 80 yards on 12 plays with Henton throwing a 9-yard touchdown pass to All-SIAC receiver Chris Slaughter for a 17-0 lead. Slaughter led the Wildcats on a two-play, 58-yard scoring drive in the second quarter. He caught a 45-yard pass on one play, then a 13-yard touchdown pass on the next play. The Wildcats failed to convert the point after touchdown after a bad snap, making the score 20-0 with 7:59 left in the first half. Marcus Graham, who took over at quarterback for the remainder of the game, completed 19-of-45 attempts, as the Tigers were forced to try and throw to get back into the game. He had one interception and had a 12-yard touchdown pass to Mujahid Assad in the fourth quarter to make the score 30-10. Tyquan Bazemore had 54 yards rushing on 14 carries. Harlon Samuels had five catches for 73 yards. Martin Epps had eight tackles to lead the defense, while Tayler Workman and DeVonta Avery each had interceptions. Workman’s interception late in the third quarter led to a 23-yard field goal by Eduardo Hernandez at the start of the fourth quarter to put Benedict on the board after Fort Valley State had pulled ahead 30-0. Rosenbaum tacked on a 38-yard field goal with five minutes left in the game to close out the scoring for the Wildcats. Benedict is back on the road next week, traveling to face Miles College, the defending SIAC champions. The Golden Bears crushed Albany State 41-6 on Saturday in a rematch of last year’s SIAC championship game.